Catholic Church Plans Legal Action Against Sharia

"Panafrican News Agency," March 20, 2001

Dakar, Senegal

The Catholic Church in Nigeria plans a legal challenge to
the Islamic Sharia law introduced by some States in the north of the country,
the Archbishop of Abuja, Mgr John Onaiyekan said in Dakar Tuesday.

"Not only is it unconstitutional for the Sharia to be
imposed on Nigeria as a Federation, it is unconstitutional for it to be imposed
on any particular State or States, even if the State were 100 percent
Muslim," the prelate told PANA in the Senegalese capital.

Several Muslim-dominated northern Nigerian States have
introduced the Sharia amid strong protests from Christians in the
multi-religious and populous nation.

The issue has generated sectarian violence resulting in
hundreds of deaths and destruction of property.

Onaiyekan, who is attending a meeting of the Standing
Committee of the Association of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar,
said it is unfortunate that Nigerian politicians have consistently shied away
from the problem.

He said some unnamed persons in the government were trying
to make some political gains from the potentially dangerous issue.

"The Head of State (Olusegun Obasanjo) has dragged his
feet too long on one matter.

"This might be because his hands are tied, or he has
decided to tie his own hands," Onaiyekan said.

He added that when the issue first came up, the President
publicly declared it was wrong.

But since then, the Archbishop said Obasanjo had back-
pedalled, instead of making an effort "to call even a meeting of Governors
of the States concerned."

The prelate said Christians in Nigeria were experiencing
"a political manoeuvre by a small group to gain both on the political
front and on the economic front at the same time."

"That is why they have resorted to this kind of
manipulation of religious sentiments."

He explained that although only four or five of Nigeria's 36
States had actually proclaimed the Sharia law, the situation of Christians
living in those States is sufficiently grave to deserve immediate national attention.

"We are waiting...," he insists.

The Archbishop said the States concerned based their
decision on a "false notion of common will of the people," noting
that Article 10 of the National Constitution declares Nigeria a
non-confessional Federation.

"It clearly states that the government of the
Federation or of any State in the Federation cannot adopt any religion as State
religion.

"This means that even if a majority of people of a
given State are Muslims, they do not have the right to make Islam the official
religion of that State," Onyaiyekan argued.

"We in the Church do not consider that the five or so
States are already Muslim States. We still consider the entire affair as an
illegal move which must be stopped," he added.

The prelate said the Church considers a planned
constitutional amendment as an opportunity to correct the "error."

He praised the strength with which Christians in the
northern State of Kaduna faced the challenge of the Sharia imposition.

"They fought back and now the situation is again
normal. We regret the loss of lives which that caused, however."

Onaiyekan said the situation is different in other northern
States mainly because the Christians are fewer.

But he explained that at the national level, the Church is
putting up a strategy on the issue.

"Let's make the facts clear. We are not fighting
Islam... We have no problem with Islam. The majority of Muslims are living in
harmony with peoples of other religions in Nigeria," Onaiyekan pointed
out.